Managing Successful Programmes

1. Know the customer.
Work really hard to understand the customer need. This might be different from your primary stakeholders need, however ultimately serving the customer of the programme means you are likely to create a sustained business benefit.

2. Be resource aware.
Get clear that you are never likely to have all the resources you could possibly need to deliver your programme. You will always be dealing with compromise. Instead always have a clear summary of your resources to hand, identify critical gaps and be prepared to negotiate to close the gaps.

3. Be decisive.
Programmes often falter when people procrastinate, get stuck in analysis paralysis or when fear of failure holds them back. The decision might be to halt proceedings or stop altogether. Either way, observe, analyse, debate and decide.

4. Be up to date.
While analysis paralysis is to be avoided, don’t go into any meeting without knowing your current position.

5. Communicate.
Always ensure your team, sponsors, stakeholders and customers are kept informed. When you brief others be ahead of the curve, so they are too.

5 Actions

1. Map your stakeholders.
It seems so obvious but know who your stakeholders are and what skin they have in the game. Go talk to the two most important ones today and just check in with them.

2. Know your team.
Have a coffee or lunch with someone in the team you don’t know so well. Start doing this regularly.

3. Be a diplomat.
From today start to learn diplomacy – the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and tactful way. Practice with someone outside of the programme you are managing.

4. Mitigate.
Do you have a complete, up-to-date, thorough risk register? Go check and if you need to bring it up to date. Always know your mitigating actions should things go off track.

5. Be human.
At the end of the day don’t forget that everyone is human. Tune into the environment of people associated with the programme and look after their health, safety and well being. You’ll get better outcomes overall.

Key advice: don’t expect to be able to complete all these tips and actions quickly. There’s lots to be done. Start and be patient and thorough.